How do you monetize your blog?
If the answer is Advertisement, then I know you have a hard time generating money from your blog unless you have tons of traffic.
When I started blogging, I thought Adsense is good enough to make some serious money from my blog. But the reality was different. Adsense requires a lot of traffic to generate some good amount of money.
As I didn’t have a lot of traffic, I started looking for other monetizing methods. Then I came to know about Affiliate Marketing.
At that time, I didn’t find any step by step guide about monetizing blog through affiliate marketing. However, I was able to learn some basic affiliate marketing tips from different blogs (for example, for Amazon affiliate marketing, I’m following Marketever).
After having some ideas about affiliate marketing, I started trying it on my blog. It took almost six months to get my first affiliate sale. It seemed a slow process to me.
Things have changed when I earned $1800 from a single affiliate within a month. After that, I took affiliate marketing more seriously. Now I am making some handsome money from Affiliate Marketing every month.
Recently I’ve bought a new blog and monetized it through affiliate marketing. I followed some steps that I’ve learned from my four years of blogging journey.
If you want to monetize your blog with affiliate marketing but don’t know where to start, this post is for you.
In this post, I am going to share those 7 steps that I followed to monetize my new blog through affiliate marketing.
Step #1 – Check If You are Already Promoting Products/Services That Offer Affiliate Programs
If you’ve been blogging for few months, chances that you’ve already linked to a number of recommended products/services on your blog posts that have affiliate programs.
The easiest way to get started with affiliate marketing is to find those products/services and join their affiliate programs. As you are already sending traffic to those products/services, it will be easier for you to earn affiliate commission from them.
Now let’s see how to find those affiliate programs. Follow these simple steps…
At first, you need to find where you are sending traffic from your blog. You can use Jetpack stats to see which links users clicked to leave your blog. Just install Jetpack plugin and connect it with your WordPress.com account. Most of the features of Jetpack including ‘Site Stats’ will be activated automatically. You need to give it few days to collect data for you. However, sometimes one-day data is good enough to get started.
If you are already using Jetpack plugin, that’s awesome. Just go to your WordPress dashboard and click on “Site Stats” from Jetpack.
You will find a “Clicks” section there showing external links that users clicked.
Then click on “Summaries” to see the overall clicks.
Now you have the list of sites where you are sending traffic. Make a list of those sites that offer products/services. Then go to those sites one by one and look for a link (mostly on the footer) that says “Affiliates”, “Affiliate Program”, “Become An Affiliate” or “Referral Program”. Follow the link and sign up for their affiliate programs.
You can also search on Google to check if there is any affiliate program for a particular product/service. Just search for terms like “[Product/Service] Affiliate Program” or “[Product/Service] Referral Program”
If there is an affiliate program for searched term, just join the affiliate program. If you haven’t found any affiliate program for the product/service, just set up a Google Alerts for the terms “[Product/Service] Affiliate Program”. You will get notifications about the affiliate programs.
I hope you’ve found some affiliate programs. But remember, just because it has affiliate program doesn’t mean you should promote it. You have to make sure that you are promoting the right products. If you end up promoting a bad product, you will loose TRUST of your audience which is very important for affiliate marketing. So choose wisely.
Now join the available affiliate programs that seem right to you. It might take some times to get approved by Affiliate Program.
Keep a list of the affiliate programs that you’ve joined.]
[divider style=’centered’]
Step #2 – Find Relevant Affiliate Programs
If you haven’t found any affiliate programs (or just found a few programs) by following step #1, don’t worry.
In this step, I will show you how to find relevant affiliate programs for your blog.
Finding relevant affiliate programs is very important to get success in affiliate marketing. Just because someone makes huge money from Web hosting affiliate programs doesn’t mean this will work for you too. You have to find products/services that are relevant to your blog.
Here are some ways to find out the right affiliate programs for your blog.
- Think of some relevant products/services you like and check if there is any affiliate programs for those products/services.
- Do some research on successful blogs on your niche. Discover what products/services they are promoting on their blogs. Take a look at their sidebar banners and resource/tools page. Check if there is any product review posts on their blogs.
- Search on Google. If you are running a health blog, search for the term “Health-related affiliate programs”
- Use an Affiliate Network. It acts as a mediator between publishers (you) and merchant affiliate programs. It’s a marketplace of affiliate programs. You will get thousands of affiliate programs on a single affiliate network. There are a lot of affiliate networks and here are some best affiliate networks.
- Shareasale is one of the most popular affiliate marketing networks that has over 3900 affiliate programs. It has affiliate programs for almost every niche.
- ClickBank is the best marketplace for digital products. It has digital products for every niche.
- CJ Affiliate by Conversant (formerly Commission Junction) is one of the oldest networks.
- Impact Radius is very popular for tracking, reporting, and payment.
- Amazon Associates is the biggest affiliate program offered by Amazon. If you are planning to promote physical products, join Amazon associates.
Make a list of relevant affiliate programs for your blog. And start joining them one by one.
[divider style=’centered’]
Step #3 – Cloak Your Affiliate Links & Add Those Links Automatically into Your Posts
I hope you already got approved by some of the affiliate programs you’ve joined. If you haven’t got approved by all programs immediately, don’t worry. While some affiliate programs approve immediately, others might take some times.
Every affiliate program provides you a unique affiliate link to track your sales. This link may look something like this:
http://partners.xyz.com/c/214426/177309/3094
This is pretty ugly and scary. You’d not love to add this link to your blog posts.
What you can do is cloaking the affiliate link. It means masking the affiliate link. Your cloaked affiliate link will be something like this:
https://roadtoblogging.com/go/xyz/
It looks good and it’s easy to remember.
Like everything, you can do it by using a WordPress plugin. There are a lot of affiliate link manager plugins out there.
I am using ThirstyAffiliate to manage my affiliate links. It’s very easy to use. Just Install the plugin and go to WordPress Dashboard > Affiliate Links > Add New.
Yes, it’s that much easy.
I’ve been in blogging for almost 4 years. I’ve seen a lot of bloggers not to cloak affiliate links. It’s a huge mistake!
If you don’t cloak your affiliate links, you’ll be in trouble when one of your affiliates decides to change its affiliate link. Recently HostGator has moved its Affiliate Program to Impact Radius from in-house. As an HostGator affiliate, I have to update all HostGator links with the new affiliate link. It’d be tough for me if I wasn’t using an affiliate link manager plugin.
So cloak your affiliate links right away.
Now let’s see how to add affiliate links automatically to your blog posts.
As you weren’t in affiliate marketing from day 1 of your blogging journey, chances that you’ve linked to recommend products/services several times. But those were just plain links, not affiliate links. Those won’t generate commission for you.
It’d be tough for you to find those links and replace those links with affiliate links one by one.
Here’s an easy way. Thirsty Affiliate has an add-on named Autolinker that will do it for you.
ThirstyAffiliate Autolinker scans your all blog posts and replace all specified keywords into affiliate links. Just setup your affiliate links with a list of Keywords and it takes care of the rest.
However, it’s a premium addon-on which costs $49 AUD (about $35 USD). But it worths your money.
Once you’ve installed the add-on, you will notice “Autolinks Keywords” section when you’re about to add a new affiliate link. Just specify the keywords that you want to replace with affiliate links.
You can also add Keywords to your old affiliate links. Just edit those links.
You can select the number of times you want Autolinker to add affiliate links.
Automatic affiliate linking will surely increase your revenue.
[divider style=’centered’]
Step #4 – Use An Affiliate Aggregator Service
If you write about many topics on a single blog, then you will have to join a lot of affiliate programs to monetize your blog properly.
It will be time-consuming. On that case, you might consider using an affiliate aggregator service like VigLink which will automate access to thousands of affiliate programs.
VigLink is connected with more than 30,000 affiliate programs. It converts your website’s outbound links into affiliate links. It also adds links to products or brands within your content.
For example, if you mention the word “iPad” on your blog post, VigLink will automatically add an affiliate link to this word. You don’t have to join any specific affiliate program for that. VigLink will take care of that.
If you mention lots of products name on your blog posts, I’d suggest you to start using VigLink on your blog.
[divider style=’centered’]
Step #5 – Update Your “Most Popular Posts” With Affiliate Links
No matter how you have been blogging, some of your posts will be generating more traffic than others. Those are the most popular posts of your blog.
These posts can help you to generate affiliate sales. All you have to do is adding affiliate links properly to your most visited posts.
Here’s how to do it.
- At first, login to Google Analytics/Jetpack/Clicky or whatever your are using to track your visitors.
- Find the most visited posts of your blog. If you are using Jetpack, just go to WordPress Dashboard > Jetpack > Site Stats and click on “Summaries” from “Top Posts & Pages”.
3. Make a list of top 10 posts and start with the first one.
4. Review the post and look for affiliate opportunities. But don’t be aggressive.
5. Check how other bloggers are monetizing the same topic post.
6. If you haven’t found any relevant affiliate links for the post, at least, try to link a post which you’ve monetized with affiliate links.
7. Do the same for other posts.
I’d suggest you not to be aggressive while adding affiliate links to your most popular posts. If there is no relevant affiliate link for the post, just keep as it is. But you can optimize the post for subscribers, social exposure etc.
[divider style=’centered’]
Step #6 – Write Blog Posts That Generate Sales
By now you should have a good idea of what products/services to promote on your blog. But if you don’t know how to promote it properly, you won’t be able to increase your sales.
Now I’ll be sharing few blog post types that generate sales.
Review Posts – Though product reviews shouldn’t be written just for the sake of affiliate sales, but you can expect some sales from your reviews. Just make sure that you are honest with your reviews. No product is perfect. So don’t hesitate to write the cons of the products.
Here are some essential tips for writing product reviews.
- Write pros and cons of the product/service.
- Share your personal experience how you use the product.
- Use keywords like price, problem, and review to generate traffic from Search Engines.
- Give rating to the product. I use WP Rich Snippets Plugin to do that. It will increase your CTR.
- Add a clear recommendation.
- Share special discounts or free trial if there is any.
Comparison Posts – These posts are very effective for affiliate marketing. People often search for comparison between products. You can take this advantage.
Just pick two products that are very similar and people get confused about which one to choose.
For example, HostGator and Bluehost are two best web hosting companies. People often search for the term “HostGator Vs Bluehost”. You can help people to choose one and expect some sales.
‘How to’ Posts – These are the most popular posts on the internet. You can use these posts to generate affiliate sales from your blog. For this, you have to find out how your affiliate products/services can solve others’ problems. And write ‘How to’ posts based on affiliate products.
You can also write List Posts, Alternative List Posts etc to generate sales. Just be creative.
[divider style=’centered’]
Step #7 – Drive Traffic to Your Affiliate Links
The more traffic you drive to your blog, the more affiliate sales you’ll generate.
The key to getting success in affiliate marketing depends on driving relevant traffic to your affiliate links. When I say driving traffic to affiliate links, I mean driving traffic to your blog and it will automatically increase your affiliate link clicks.
Here are some tips for driving traffic for your blog.
- Write better titles.
- Do keyword optimization.
- Write SEO Optimized posts.
- Blog consistently.
- Leave comments on other people’s blogs.
- Be active on social media.
- Be creative.
[thrive_leads id=’11048′]
Your Turn
Affiliate Marketing can be the best way to make money from your blog if you can do it rightly.
If you follow the steps in this post, I guarantee that you will get your first affiliate sale very soon.
However, learning affiliate marketing monetization in one post can be a little overwhelming, so leave a comment if you have any questions.
48 Comments
Hello, this is timely and whole. I am new to blogging, just less than five days today. Finding it difficult to add banner to my blog, it’s an affiliate marketing stuff. Could you guide me?
Thanks
Do you want to add clickable images?
I just stumbled upon your article. Affiliate Marketing now seems a good idea to me. Thank you for sharing this valuable information :)
Which hosting affiliate program do you like most?
Please read this post. You will have a good idea on web hosting affiliate programs.
Hi Istiak,
Affiliate Marketing is a game changer and many bloggers are still stuck with old school AdSense method abd struggle to earn.
Cloaking affiliate links is a smart way to shorten the links and track number of clicks.
Thanks for sharing this guide. Some good points here.
Hi Istiak,
Found your article very informative for new people like me because, just started blog posting. I have one question, How many adsense alternatives can we apply for one website? Is there any limitations to that.
Thanks for your wonderful article. Keep updating.
Hi Itiak,
Great post you have up here! Affiliate Marketing really is one of the best ways to make money from a blog with low but targeted traffic.
Thanks for sharing and have a nice day!
It’s a great. Thanks Istiak for such useful tips. I never thought that affiliate marketing could make money. Can you please refer me any guide or any more post so i can take my next step .
Thanks
Can you be more specific? I mean, I share every step that I thought important to monetize a blog with affiliate marketing. If you have any questions on any particular point, I might help you a better way. Thanks.
Hi Istiak,
Well thanks for the excellent post, i have started my web hosting coupons website and your blog helps me a lot to learn affiliate marketing. once again thanks a ton :)
Great! Keep up the good work.
Hi Istiak, First of all, thanks for maintaining this wonderful blog. I have got to know about your blog from ShoutMeLoud commenting. Your comments are regular in ShoutMeLoud posts. I also follow ShoutMeLoud and also started following your blog. Got to know about your another blog from QCblogging interview. I really loved your list of 20+ high paying Referral program links. The list is awesome and I got to know about Grammarly referral program. Could you please share with you how you set up the 3 featured post on the right sidebar of your blog? (Make money without Adsense, Best Referral program and ….)
Thanks for your kind words.
Here’s how you can add featured posts on the sidebar.
1. At first, make the images. You can use canva.com.
2. Then follow this post: https://roadtoblogging.com/create-wordpress-clickable-image/
Thanks mate!
Istiak, Thanks for an outstanding informative article. Affiliation is one of the best opportunity to earn money from a blog. Click bank, CJ, share a sale all are good but the main part is the selection of product. And yes, Amazon Associate provide the biggest platform to promote physical products. Nice article :-)
Glad you find it useful.
Hi Istiak,
I am blogging since 2 years, just started focusing on affiliate marketing from last six months but not able to made single affiliate sale till now, sometimes I do feel earning money from affiliate marketing is impossible.
Finding right affiliate products without competition is becoming a problem to me, professional bloggers are ranking on the first page for almost every affiliate products.
All my affiliate articles are ranking on the 2nd page or 3rd page, I don’t know when will I get sales so I started my new blog concentrating on event, lets see what happens, anyway thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Hi Madhavi,
I can understand your feeling. I came through the same situation. It took almost six months to get my first affiliate sale. Getting first sale is very crucial. It will motivate you and help you to continue your affiliate marketing journey. You can download my ebook “11 Ways to Make Your First Affiliate Sale From Your Blog“. I hope these ways will help you to get your first affiliate sale.
Let me know if you any help regarding affiliate marketing.
Hi Istiak,
You blog post is very nice for the beginner level bloggers who want to make money from the affiliate networks. But I would like to know that what is the minimum blog requirements to apply ShareASale affiliate network. I have just started blogging. My blog domain age is only a month. So can I apply my blog to this network?
Thanks
Getting approved by ShareASale is not so tough. Just make sure you have a good design, top level domain, good contents.
Thanks for reply,
But currently, I’m promoting other affiliate networks in my blog. So can I apply Sharesell affiliate?
Yes, you can. It’s not a problem.
Awesome guide sir. Thank you and keep guiding us like this one.
Thanks for stopping by. Stay connected.
Hey Istiak, I just discovered your blog a couple of days back. I’m very impressed with the work you’re doing here. This post on getting started on Affiliate Marketing is extremely good – touches the important points, very simple & easy to understand. I’ve just begun my journey in blogging. I was thinking about adsense but not very convinced about the returns. This post has helped me to take THE decision to get in to affiliate marketing. Thanks for the great help. Cheers!
Glad I could help. Let me know if you need any help.
Thanks Istiak. I’m very new in blogging. My blog doesn’t have a lot of content now. What are the things I should prepare before applying to affiliate programs? If you can give me some brief pointers it would be very helpful. BTW your admin email seems to have some problem. I emailed you but got a delivery failure message.
Here are few things you can do to get approved by affiliate programs.
1. Get a quality design.
2. Publish quality contents.
3. Make sure you are only applying to relevant affiliate programs.
4. Make your sidebar looks good.
5. Republish your popular posts to make your home page impressive.
However, thanks for letting me know about the email issue. I will fix it soon.
Hi Istiak,
Thanks once again. those quick pointers surely helped. Feeling confident and preparing to apply to affiliate programs.
Cheers,
Rupak
This is called a post! Wow!
It appears you read my mind and preaching me how to do it correctly. Each of the steps you’ve mentioned are very important and you’ve explained it very well.
I was looking into affiliate programs and recently joined Worthy Affiliates. Till now the course is only up to installing WordPress and setting it up to work. Hope to find some good tips from there soon. But you’ve presented here all the real juice in one place. Good work and a huge thumbs up!
Thanks for the kind words. I’ve just shared the truth as I saw it. You know what I mean :)
Hello Istiak bro,
I’m also from your country and I started my blog about 5 months before. However, I started learning when I was 12, and now I’m 14. I’ve already monetized my blog with Adsense but the income isn’t enough as blogging on “Blogging & SEO” niche isn’t that profitable for Adsense. So I was looking for a guide on affiliate marketing and how to do that properly.
Thanks for your cool & detailed guide, I hope I can be a pro blogger like you at some time. I really need to start to join some relevant affiliate markets, I think I’ll start with Godaddy Affiliate program.
Thanks again & you rock! :D
Glad to know that you are from Bangladesh, and you’ve started a blog at the age of 14. That’s incredible!
It’s true that Adsense doesn’t work well in blogging and SEO related blog. For this reason, I stopped using Adsense on RTB a while back. I’ve written a post on making money without Adsense. You can read this.
Thanks for stopping by. Let me know if you need any help.
I know that affiliate marketing is a good source of income. Read about it on Shoutmeloud and RTB. Currently, I am trying to increase traffic. Then I should use these methods. :)
If you are getting 100 traffic daily, then you should start affiliate marketing.
I completely believe that your guideline is incredible I should follow your complete guideline before monetizing blogs with Affiliate Marketing. If I can’t hope you will help for doing it.
Sure. I will help you out. Let me know if you need any helps. In the meantime, you can check this ebook on Affiliate Marketing.
Hi Istiak,
Really a very nice article…!!!
This is really a very useful guide for people who want to monetize their blog/website through affiliate marketing.
I have personally met some people who are making a good money (some of them are earning more than 1-2 lakh per month) through affiliate marketing only.
This is really a very useful guide. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Best Regards,
Vikash Sharma
Thanks for reading. Glad you found it useful.
Thats really great!!! I want monetize my blog for a long time. Hope I will follow your affiliate marketing guideline.
Let me know if you need any helps.
Hello dear brother,
Really an informative and effective step by step guide you have written. Like you I am also a fan of Harsh of India. But I try to follow Darren Rowse, Jon Loomer and Marry Smith as well. Thanks for your affiliate guide.
Yes, Hasrsh’s blog helped me a lot to learn about affiliate makreting. I am also following Darren Rowse.
Hey Istiyak Bro such an amazing guide to starting affiliate marketing
One question to you, Does ShareAsale support blog which is created by blogger.com?
I sign up there but couldn’t get approved!
I am not sure bro. It’s always a good idea to apply with top level domain.
Thanx Istiak Rayhan for creating an informative article on Affiliate Marketting. Hope it will help me and other new bloggers to monetize blogs with Affiliate Marketing.
Happy New Year…
Hope so. Let me know if you need any help.